I absolutely love camping, and as soon as the weather turns enjoyable, it’s one of the first things I think about. Now, I’m not a hardcore camper. I would be open to a backpacking trip, but the opportunity hasn’t been offered to me yet in a way that seems manageable. I car camp (drive to a park with a campsite and pitch a tent), and it’s wonderful.It looks like I’ll at least get to go on one camping trip this upcoming season, but last year I went on two trips.

The first trip last year was in July, with a big group of friends in the Poconos. We stayed at a private campground, which definitely had its benefits. It also happened to be Princess weekend, which was just an added fun bonus and we got to see a ton of adorable little girls in princess outfits celebrating.

The second trip was in October, and it was freezing, but actually really nice. I had all new camping gear in 2015, but even still, I had never tested my gear to its lower temp limits. Surprising, it did super well. It was cold at night, but I was able to sleep soundly. And the benefit to cold weather camping is that I was way cleaner than I normally am after a camping weekend in the summer.

Here are some photo highlights

Making Fires

Hiking, Alyssa, Michelle, and Chris

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

One of the biggest benefits to camping

Doing breakfast right

The fall camp – notice the strong hammock game

I love Smoky the Bear, also Todd was Smoky the Bear for Halloween – so this was a Halloween teaser